"We'll swap some numbers around for 4 to 5 players to make it easier for Kikuchi to choose. Maybe the player that loses his number will also take this as a wake up call," said Lions' GM Yasuo Maeda.

The only number between 10 and 19 currently available is the number 12. Satoshi Yamazaki (#17) and Masamitsu Hirano (#19) are two possible players that could lose their numbers. Beyond that, Yuta Nakazaki (#21) and Hironori Matsunaga (#24) are two other players that could lose their numbers.

One comment on “Draft News and Notes: Hawks offer contracts to Fujihara and Fujikawa”

Oh yeah, I read that article about Ohishi too. Quite frankly, he IS a better pitcher than Saitoh… at relief. Dude still can’t start. I don’t know why that is, but it’s true (he’s been rocked in just about every start he’s had in college, but has been lights-out in relief, even when relief meant pitching 5-6 innings to clean up Saitoh’s crap). I’m a huge fan of his and I’ve been watching him for two and a half years now and even I can’t make excuses for his crappy starts anymore after seeing him at Soukeisen this year.

Nonetheless, a guy who can come out there and throw 150-154 in relief and strike out a ton of batters definitely has value, and I’d like to think he will be a great closer for an actual pro team (Fighters!!) someday.